Auto equalizer apparatus

ABSTRACT

Circuitry for detecting and measuring distortion components in a differentially coherent phase shift keyed signal received at a receiver after transmission over a transmission facility and further circuitry for altering the amplitude and phase of the received signal by an amount indicative of the measured value. The equalizer measures both pre and post pulse distortion products in producing the adjusted output signal. The disclosure also illustrates a special preamble which may be used prior to the main message to hasten the measurement and adjustment process time over the time required if random sampled data is used in the measurement process. The equalizer algorithm utilizes the fact that the phase and amplitude of prepulse and postpulse interference of any particular pulse can be measured relative to the main pulse by making the other interference pulses and the main pulse orthogonal.

United States Patent 1 3,727,134

Melvin I [451 I Apr. 10, 1973 AUTO EQUALIZER APPARATUS [75] Inventor: William J. Melvin, Costa Mesa, Primary Exammer Benedlct safourek Attorney-Robert J. Crawford and Bruce C. Lutz Calif.

[73] Assignee: Collins Radio Company, Dallas, [57] ABSTRACT Tex.

Circuitry for detecting and measuring distortion com- [22] Fil d; M 29, 1971 ponents in a differentially coherent phase shift keyed signal received at a receiver after transmission over a [21] Appl. No.: 128,769 transmission facility and further circuitry for altering the amplitude and phase of the received signal by an 52 US. Cl. ..325/30, 325/42, 325/65, amount indicative of the measured value- The equal- 328/155, 333/18 izer measures both pre and post pulse distortion [51] Int. Cl. ..l-l03h 7/36 products in producing the adjusted output Signal The [58] Field of Search ..325/41 42 45 30 discllsure ,inustmtcs a Special Preamble which 325/67 346 320 135, may be used pntzlr tr)j the main message to hasten tLie measurement an a justrnent process time over t e 333/18 328/155 179/170 235/164 165 time required if random sampled data is used in the measurement process. The equalizer algorithm utilizes [56] 7 References Cited the fact that the phase and amplitude of prepulse and UNITED STATES PATENTS postpulse interference of any particular pulse can be measured relative to the main pulse by making the 3,568,067 3/1971 willifold ..l78/66 R other interference pulses and the main pulse 3,404,229 10/1968 Downey et al ..325 42 orthogonaL 3,414,819 l2/l968 Lucky ..325/42 3,597,599 8/1971 Melvin ..235/154 14 Clains, 25 Drawing Figures 82 7e 94 98 I04 I28 [I11 AX $2 I REAL I STORE FA (m 221 IIs I02 I24 X AVE E, I 0i") (n) I24.

X g 70 J REAL I06 i REAL A E A sass 23:; are V ROW 54 BASIC PRE-PULSE S S M A PHASE+ PHASE- A as E SURE EQUALIZER A DEMOD (n+l) -l IMAG (n-2) 0' PHASE IM Pi-Ei/EiSFJBI "(M 7 88 p72 1 I22 I26 fi l r 6 Ym) W 58 Q A 0., M I05 WIMAG FA (n) 1(n) g 96 I00 [MAG 7a e 08 I30 A COMPUTE COMPUTE 4 m un) PATENTEDAPR 1 01975 SHEET 01 0F 15 PATENTED 01915 3'. 727, 134

SHEET UEUF 15 I4 SAMPLE 2 'TIME 4 SAMPLE n-l /n+l n+2 \MM TIME 30 4a 2 34 44 DATA SHAPING LPF (n) J cos( we) cosq 7 0) FACILITY sum (mil 32 46 K 2 DATA SHAPING LPF (n) S|N -S|N( t+9) Q AXIS 2 s 0 mvavron I 1 AXIS ?h. I m WILLIAM .1. MELVIN 0 0 0 0 BY 54M. 6%;

ATTORNEY PATEf-HED 3,727, 134

sum osur 15 WILLIAM J. MELVIN ATTORNEY PATENTEI] APR 1 0 I973 SHEET UBUF 1S FIG. IO

ACCUM @GEN I I l I I l l 5 SIGN HOLD F I6. I I

INVENTOR WILLIAM J. MELVIN y M C a ATTORNEY m B @E s m g m n aging mm a m a mm C n m n E n N A ON" I T r l mwlmml .wwlm .---k w A Q m SHEET UBUF 15 PATENTED 1 01m 3', 727. 134

SHEET U 8 OF 15 8 CL CKS p-'llllllllllllll M m M l g n 2 m 9 m Z -jq m ATTORNEY PATENTEU PR 1 01m SHEET 1UUF 15 INVENTOR WILLIAM J. MELVIN ATTORNEY PATENTEU 3,727. 134

SHEET 12UF15 INVENTOR WILLIAM J. MELVIN BY m, c

AT TORNE Y PATENTED APR 1 0I973 PARALLEL OUTPUT FA sue REF A I EVEN M) (0,0,0

(0,1,0) (0,0,0) (M) (L0) A I =H2 A I =|s E FOUR PHASE coome A =|44 M 2) (|,|,0) (Om (l,l,l) (|,O|)

EIGHT PHASE coome INVENTOR WILLIAM J. MELVIN BY aw c ATTORNEY AUTO EQUALIZER APPARATUS The present invention is generally related to electronics and more specifically related to auto equalizers. Even more specifically, the present invention is related to an equalizer for use with differentially coherent phase shift keyed signals.

In the past few years many auto equalizers have been proposed which have operated to varying degrees of satisfaction. However, as far as is known, no satisfactory method has been proposed for equalizing differentially phase shift keyed (DC-PSK) signals. The prior art has been concentrated mainly on amplitude modulated signals of bilevel (binary) 'or multilevel amplitude variations. These amplitude modulated signals are adjusted to the desired frequency range by a vestigial or a single side band operation at the modulator. The demodulation process requires a carrier recovery operation which is extremely susceptible to phase jitter and phase hits encountered on the facility. The chief advantage of differentially coherent phase shift signaling is that the demodulation is relatively insensitive to these types of phase distortions.

The present invention may be used to equalize differentially coherent phase shift keyed (DC-PSK) signals.

Briefly, this is accomplished by measuring the distortion products or intersymbol interference and then subtracting or cancelling these products from the received signal before the final data decision is made. The distortion product measurement depends upon the fact that the intersymbol interference can be described as an additive component with a fixed or time invariant magnitude and phase relative to the main data pulse or symbol with each distortion component having a unique magnitude and phase. An equalizer measurement algorithm is described whereby the demodulator output is rotated by an angle that is equal to the measured phase-difference between the present main pulse and the main pulse k transmission symbols earlier. The rotated output samples are then accumulated or averaged over a selected preamble interval. The preamble data and interval are such that a particular distortion product can be measured independent or orthogonal to the other products. Any particular product is selected by the value of the rotational angle utilized. Once the distortion products are known, they can be cancelled from the demodulator output by rotating each product by the conjugate or negative of the phase angle used for measuring. One embodiment of the averaging over a selected preamble interval is described in this specification. An alternative distortion measurement technique which requires random modulator data and conventional digital low pass filtering for averaging, is described analytically. This technique uses the same rotational algorithm as that required for the preamble approach. The invention described can be easily modified to initially adjust on the preamble and then switch to a track mode which uses random modulator phase shifts and conventional sample data low pass filter averaging.

Reference is used in two senses. First, the received signal is multiplied by a carrier reference and its quadrature to obtain the inphase and quadphase signal envelope components. This reference is a sinewave and its quadrature is a cosine signal. The phase of the sinewave relative to the received signal is the desired data. Second, the demodulator output comprises the original or main pulse plus distortion pulses. The main pulse is considered a reference relative to the distortion pulses or products sample is used in two senses. First, the received signal is sampled by an analog to digital converter block 202 in FIG. 11. The ADS sample rate is is such that 12 of these samples are taken each transmission symbol or pulse. Secondly, once eachtransmission symbol'or pulse a set of X and Y outputs, 56 and 58 respectively from FIGS. 1 and 11, are available or are sampled and these are the sample values 1. I 1,, and Q Q Q as illustrated in FIG. 2.-

A more detailed description of this equalizer algorithm principle is discussed in the section entitled General Response Measurement Discussion and Distortion Correction.

It is thus an object of the present invention to produce improved auto equalizer apparatus.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention may be ascertained from a reading of the specification and appended claims in conjunction with the drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the overall invention.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are time and vector responses of a system to a given data symbol.

FIG. 4 is a more detailed block diagram illustration of the modulating and demodulating portion of the system.

FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 are vector diagrams for use in explaining FIG. 4.

, FIG. 7 is utilized in explaining the measurement of the distortion product.

FIGS. 8 and 9 are general and detailed block diagrams of the prepulse equalizer section of FIG. 1.

FIG. 10 illustrates the phase update or phase rotate section of FIG. 1.

FIG. 11 provides more detail as to the basic demodulator of FIGS. 1 and 4.

FIG. 12 is a collection of waveforms for use in explaining FIG. 11.

FIG. 13 is a more detailed diagram of the prepulse equalizer.

FIG. 14 is a series of waveforms for use in explaining the operation of FIG. 13.

FIG. 15 illustrates one of the averaging block implementations which may be used in the equalizer of FIG. 1.

FIG. 16 is a collection of waveforms for use in describing the operation of FIG. 15.

FIG. 17 is a detailed circuit diagram of the measuring section for postpulse distortion in FIG. 1 in combination with the compute postpulse distortion correction section.

FIG. 18 is a collection of waveforms for use in explaining FIG. 17.

FIG. 19 is a detailed block diagram for computing the accumulated phase angle to date.

FIG. 20 is a detailed circuit block diagram for providing a running indication of the phase angle of the present data symbol with respect to the previous three data symbols.

FIG. 21 is a waveform diagram for use in'explaining FIGS. 19 and 20.

FIG. 22 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a modulator which may be used in FIGS. 1 and 4.

FIGS. 23-25 are waveforms for use in explaining FIG. 22.

BACKGROUND FIG. I

The impulse response of a two-channel single tone modem (modulator-demodulator system) connected to a facility with nonlinear phase and/or amplitudefrequency characteristics comprises a set of outputs which are transient in nature. The outputs are essen tially the base band or low pass equivalent of the inphase, I, (real) and quadrature phase, Q, (imaginary) response of the facility to a modulator pulse centered at the demodulator carrier reference frequency. Two typical demodulator output signals, I and Q, are shown in FIG. 2. A pulse is applied to the facility at a given time. This applied pulse results in a main contribution appearing at sample time interval N with component contributions occurring until time interval N 4. The solid line waveform in this illustration indicates that there is no prepulse distortion although in actual fact, many facilities do broaden the main pulse enough so that prepulse distortion also may occur. This prepulse distortion is illustrated by a dash line in FIG. 2 for both the I and phase response graphs. The Q graph basically illustrates the fact that there may be phase distortion in addition to amplitude distortion contributions.

FIG. 3

The set of sample values L Q 1 Q etc., can be considered as components of a two dimensional vector whose basis vectors are the orthogonal inphase and quadrature phase carrier reference signal as an axis. As defined herein, two vectors or signals are orthogonal if when multiplied by each other and integrated over a specified variable as unit of time equal zero. (See Mathematical Handbook for Scientists and Engineers by Korn and Korn Sec. 19.2-3 published by McGray Hill (l96l The demodulator then extracts the projection of the facility output signal on these two basis vectors. The facility response is shown in vector form in FIG. 3. The component along the I axis being the inphase voltage sampled at time n-l n+1, n+2 and the component along the Q axis being the quadrature phase sample voltage. The modem-facility response can thus be represented by the vectors S. occurring at n] time, S occurring at time n, etc. While only the components of a single pulse has been shown for clarity, it will be realized that in normal practice a data sample would occur at each of the indicated times n-l n, n+1, etc. Thus, the distortion products of various data symbols are all superimposed upon the main data symbol received and these distortion products can affect both the amplitude and the phase of the received signal. Accordingly, the received signal must be adjusted in amplitude and phase to compensate for the distortion produced by the components applicable to other data symbols occurring previously and in the future. While it is of course not possible for a pulse not yet transmitted to affect a pulse already transmitted, a given data symbol will be transmitted by a transmitter along with at least one subsequently transmitted data pulses both of which are on the transmission line prior to the time that the receiver receives the given data symbol. Thus, the distortion characteristics of the facility or line will, in some cases, produce a distortion on the given data symbol by a data symbol which is subsequently transmitted. This is what will be referred to in this specification as prepulse symbol interference or distortion.

FIG. 4

A general block diagram of a modern facility configuration is illustrated in FIG. 4. The signals required to describe the modem and equalizer operation are defined by equations 1 through 7 below.

where I= inphase facility response to pulse 1%,, 0

Q quadrature phase facility response to pulse 1 The COS and SIN quadrature phase signals are supplied to data shaping blocks 30 and 32-for processing in accordance with predetermined or available information data. The outputs of the blocks 30 and 32 are then the inputs modified in accordance with the shaping function. These functions are then multiplied by carrier signals and added to produce the output at as shown in Equation (2). This then is the modulated single tone signal with a center frequency (0 phase modulated m pulse, with a shaping characteristic f The facility output is provided in Equation (3) which comprises combinations of I and Q outputs on two orthogonal reference carriers COS m t and SIN co t. The demodulator outputs X and Y then represent the projections of y on COS(w t 0) and on SIN(w t 0). The angle 6 incorporates both fixed phase and frequency errors. The inphase projection X Equation (5), and quad phase projection Y Equation (7), are the functions of the facility response I and Q, the modulator phase 4 and the demodulator phase 0.

In FIG. 4 the outputs from blocks 30 and 32 are multiplied in devices 34 and 36, respectively, by the CO8 and SIN of the carrier, respectively, and added in a block 38. The output of block 38 is then transmitted through a facility 40 to SIN and COS demodulator mul tipliers labeled 42 and 44, respectively. The outputs of these blocks 42 and 44 are applied to low-pass filters 46 and 48, respectively, to produce the outputs Y and lnl- FIGS. 5 and 6 FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate the X and Y components of the received signal using different values for D and 0 to illustrate that the relationship of the received vectors with respect to each other is independent of the demodulator phase 6. All received vectors remain invariant relative to the main pulse S The magnitude of each vector S, and its phase relative to S are independent of the modulator angle D and the demodulator angle 0.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION FIG. 1

In FIG. 1 a block 50 contains a transmitter which supplies analog signals to be transmitted over a transmission line 52. The transmitter 50 may contain a digitalized tone generator such as shown in a copending application in my name and entitled Digitalized Tone Generator filed June 16, 1969, assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, and having Ser. No. 833,460. A demodulator 54 receives the signal y, from the line 52 and controls the gain of the incoming signal while converting the signal from analog to digital and producing as an output, on lines 56 and 58, X and Y components of the data symbol received as compared to a set of carrier reference signals 47 and 49 of FIG. 4. These components 56 and 58 are each applied to a rotate phase positive block 60 and to a prepulse equalizer block 62. The block 62 has two sets of X and Y outputs wherein the first set are labeled 64 and 66 and contain, respectively, the X and Y components of the present signal equalized for prepulse distortion and labeled X and Y The two leads 64 and 66 are supplied to a rotate phase minus block 68. The block 62 also has output leads 70 and 72 which supply inputs K and Y to a rotate phase minus block 74. These signals are the X and Y components of two pulses ago with respect to the given set of demodulation references (47 and 49 of FIG. 4). The block 74 rotates the X and Y inputs by a given phase angle 0 on line 114 to supply outputs to two averaging circuits 76 and 78 which respectively average the real and imaginary components of the inputs supplied on leads 70 and 72 and rotated in 74 and supply on output leads 80 and 82 the imaginary and real estimated values of the Q and I components, respectively, of the previous pulse interference with respect to a given reference pulse. The estimated value of a signal is distinguished by the use of a hat over a particular symbol. These estimated values are supplied to positive rotate phase block 60 which also receives the inputs from leads 56 and 58. Outputs from positive rotate phase block 60 are supplied on the real 86 and imaginary 88 leads to the prepulse equalizer block 62. It is the outputs 86 and 88 which are subtracted from the signal on leads $6 and 58 to produce the outputs on leads 64 and 66 which are now substantially equalized for prepulse distortion. Block 68 supplies output signals on leads 90 and 92 which are indicative of negative rotation in phase 0 on lead 114 from the input signals. The outputs supplied on leads 90 and 92 are stored in blocks 94 and 96, respectively, before being supplied to full adders 98 and 100, respectively. The outputs of blocks 94 and 96 are also supplied to a rotate phase positive block 102 which is part of the postpulse distortion measurement section. The full adders 98 and 100 receive inputs on leads 184 and 105 which are obtained from the distortion correction section and are indicative of the total combined distortion components to be subtracted from the signals stored in 94 and 96. These components are subtracted and supplied by the full adders 98 and 100 to a phase measurement block 106. This block measures the difference in phase between the last signal and the present signal and supplies this output as AQ on lead 108 to a compute total phase angle block 110 and to a compute phase difference angle block 112. Block 110 supplies an output on lead 114 to blocks 74 and 68. Block 112 supplies outputs on an output lead 116 to block 102 and to a rotate phase negative block 118. This output may be in parallel or may be time shared as illustrated in this embodiment of the invention. Block 102 provides a time shared output on leads 120 and 122 to a plurality of averaging circuits 124, 124', and 124" for the real component and 126, 126', and 126" for imaginary component. The outputs of each of these blocks 124 and 126 are supplied to the rotate phase block 118 where, after each being individually rotated, they are combined in accumulation blocks 128 and 130 which are connected to the output of block 118. The blocks 128 and 130 provide the signals supplied on leads 104 and 105, mentione previously, to the full adders 98 and 100.

FIG. 7

As will be realized by those skilled in the art, in DC- PSK, the phase of the previously received signal is used as a reference in measuring the phase of the presently received signal. In FIG. 7 the middle and bottom vector diagram portions are illustrated on a continuing time basis from time (n 2) to (n 4) where S is a reference pulse occuring at sample time n. At the top of FIG. 7 is shown a vector diagram of the relative angles and amplitudes of various distortion components of the main pulse S These distortion components include the prepulse distortion component S and post pulse distoration components S S and S The middle portion of FIG. 7 illustrates the transmitted signal received pulse sequence of the main at each of the recited instances of time. However, S is shortened from that previously shown on the top line of FIG. 7 to economize on space. It further shows the MD angle output signal appearing on each occasion at lead 108 of FIG. 1. The lower portion of FIG. 7 on the other hand illustrates the angle of the continuously updated reference at that point in time with respect to each of the various components of the signal S which is received at time n. It may be noted that the reference signal vector R is always at the same angle as the angle of the previous information signal vector S Since it is assumed that the prepulse contribution of the pulse at time n is of no significance at time n 2, nothing is shown in this portion of the diagram-At n 1 there is the contribution of the S 1() component. The signal S vector is not in existence in the demodulator at n 1 time but is shown because the angle -A 1 ,,,-A I can be utilized in measuring and correcting for prepulse distortion. At time n the main pulse S is shown while at n 1 the S signal is shown with respect to the reference. R which, in this case, is

equal to the previously received signal S The same applies to the rest of the signals with the example showing that at n 4 there is no significant contribution to the n 4 pulse.

FIG. 8

As previously indicated, FIG. 8 is a generalized block diagram illustrating the concept utilized in designing blocks 60 and 62. The input signal is applied on a lead 140 to a sample delay 142 and a multiplying circuit 144. The output of sample delay 142 is supplied through multiplying circuit 146 to a full adder 148 which also receives an input from multiplying circuit 144. Multiplying circuit 144 receives, in addition, an estimated value of the prepulse interference to be received while multiplier 146 receives a value which is indicative of the present main pulse or signal set to unity. If the input is already adjusted to unity at line 140, the multiplier 146 may be eliminated. The output of full adder 148 is a value which is indicative of the input with the prepulse distortion removed. As will be apparent later, the multiplication in multiplier 144 produces a further prepulse distortion term. However, this is roughly equivalent to the estimated value of (S 2 and therefore is of such a small magnitude compared with the amplitude of the main pulse that it may be disregarded in the equalization process. The signals Z and Z the operations, and the algorithms are generalized for the two dimensional vector case.

FIG. 9'

FIG. 9 utilizes some of the same designations as shown in FIG. 1 where these are appropriate to illustrate the position in FIG. 1 which FIG. 9 takes. The same conditions are utilized for many of the following figures in relating back to FIG. 1.

In FIG. 9 sample delays 150 and 152 are connected to receive signals from leads 56 and 58, respectively. These delay blocks correspond to delay 142 of FIG. 8. The outputs of these two delay blocks are supplied to full adders 154 and 156, respectively. The outputs of these blocks 150 and 152 are also each supplied to sample delay blocks to delay the signal by two data symbol time periods for producing the signals illustrated on leads 70 and 72 of FIG. 1. The signals supplied on lead 56 are also supplied to a pair of multiplying circuits 158 and 160 which respectively receive I. and Q The input 58 is supplied to a pair of mu]- tipliers 162 and 164 which respectively receive (2., and I The two multipliers 158 and 162 supply further inputs to full adder 154 while the multiplying circuits 160 and 164 supply further inputs to full adder 156. As previously indicated in conjunction with FIG. 8 there is no requirement to multiply times the absolute value of the presently received pulse if the input is set to a unity main pulse value. However, if such multiplication is desired, the multiplying action may occur immediately prior to the full adders 154 and 156 as shown by dash line multipliers having a S input.

FIG.

In FIG. 10 the X and Y signals are supplied to a plurality of multiplying and full adder circuits comprising a phase vector rotation circuit (block 68 of FIG. 1). The

vector represented by the signals on 64 and 66 is rotated by the angle appearing on lead 114 and then separated into its components again to produce the rotated components and 92. It must be stressed that the X cannot and is not rotated by a predetermined angle value but rather the vector which the X and Y components represent is rotated and then rebroken into its new components this rotational algorithm is described by equations 45 and 46 infra. Lead 64 is connected to one input to each of two multiplying circuits and 177. Lead 66 is connected to multiplying circuits 179 and 181. The lead 108 is connected to a full adder 183 whose output is connected to a register 185 having an output connected back to supply a further input to full adder 183 and also to supply inputs to two phase to analog converters 187 and 189. The output of the converter 187 supplies a signal which is indicative of the COS of the accumulated angle 0 in register 185 to multipliers 175 and 181. The converter 189 supplies a signal to multiplier 177 which is indicative of the negative SIN of this accumulated phase angle, while it supplies a positive SIN indication to multiplier 179. The outputs of multipliers 175 and 179 are summed in a full adder 191 and supplied to lead 90 as X while the outputs of multipliers 177 and 181 are added together in full adder 193 to produce an output on lead 92 as yhn- FIGS. 11 and 12 FIG. 11 provides more detail as to the basic demodulator and illustrates the use of an automatic gain control circuit 200 for receiving the input signals from lead 52, normalizing them to unity main pulse value, and supplying them through an analog to digital converter 202 and a sign hold circuit 204 to multiplying circuits 44 and 42. The multipliers 42 and 44 receive their inputs from a local reference phase generator'206whose output is changed from phase to amplitude by converters 208 and 210 before being supplied as COS of the angle and negative SIN of the angle to multipliers 44 and 42, respectively, as shown. The outputs of the multipliers are supplied through low-pass filters 46 and 48 to the outputs of 58 and 56. The low-pass filter may be designed utilizing the same principles as illustrated in FIG. 6 of my copending application Ser. No. 36,742 filed May 13, 1970 and entitled Digital Demodulating Apparatus. However, details of one block 46 have been included in a rudimentary fashion.

Referring to both FIG. 12 and FIG. 11 it will be noted that a complete transmission symbol on line 52 occurs over a 12 ADC sample period as illustrated by the pulses f,. Each of the ADC sample pulses f occurs once every 64 clock pulses in one embodiment of the invention. It will be further noted that the ADC samples which are utilized in the invention occur only during the middle eight sample periods of a l2sample transmission symbol. The signal being sampled by the ADC is illustrated in FIG. 23. Thus, The input control M is utilized to help actuate an AND circuit 212 in combination with periodically occurring input R The output of AND gate 212 is supplied to an inverter 214 and to an AND gate 216. The output of inverter 214 is supplied to one input of an AND gate 218 which receives another input from the output of a 16 bit shift register 220 whose output is also connected to terminal 

1. The method of measuring the distortion components of a signal introduced by a transmission facility after modulation of the signal, wherein the signal comprises a series of phase shifted data symbols, comprising the steps oF: modulating a transmitted carrier in a sequence of phase shifts representing a series of data bits, the sequence having a repetition period, wherein comparison of phase shifts of the signal, for each symbol in the sequence, with each of the other data phase shifts contributing distortion products of interest, produces an average comparison of zero; demodulating the received carrier to provide a first signal comprising a main component of a given data symbol and further distortion components supplied by other data symbols; separately adjusting said first signal in accordance with a characteristic of each of the data phase shifts of interest contributing distortion products to produce a plurality of second signals; and separately averaging each of said plurality of second signals over said sequence to obtain a plurality of third signals each indicative of the distortion component contributed by a given date symbol to said first signal as a result of the transmission facility.
 2. The method of claim 1 comprising the additional step of removing from said first signal the distortion components as indicated by said third signal to provide an ''''equalized'''' fourth signal.
 3. The method of measuring the distortion components in a transmitted DC-PSK data symbol which distortion components were contributed in a transmission facility by neighboring data symbols comprising the steps of: demodulating a received DC-PSK signal to produce a composite vector first signal (Zn) including I (real) and Q (quadrature) components of a main given and neighboring contributory data symbols; rotating said first signal according to the equation Sk Z(n)ej where Sk the distortion component contributed by a data symbol k symbols removed from the first signal data symbol occurring at sample period n, Beta k the phase increment between the data symbol occurring at n as transmitted and the data symbol as transmitted at time n-k which is contributing the component Sk, ej Beta k is indicative of the polar coordinate rotational angle for each of the data symbols contributing distortion components to said signal Zn; and separately averaging said Sk products for each component to obtain a plurality of distortion component vector values Sk .
 4. The method of claim 3 comprising the additional step of removing from said Zn signal the distortion components Sk to provide an ''''equalized'''' signal Z''n.
 5. Apparatus for measuring distortion components in a DC-PSK signal contributed in a transmission facility by data symbols neighboring a data symbol being demodulated comprising, in combination: first means for receiving a DC-PSK signal to be demodulated; demodulating means for demodulating DC-PSK signals connected to said first means for receiving a signal therefrom and supplying an output second signal indicative of a series of phase shifted data symbols, a particular data symbol indication including distortion contributions of time neighboring data symbols; first signal rotation means, including input, output, and control means for rotating a data symbol indication between input and output means thereof in response to a control signal supplied to said control means thereof; second signal rotation means, connected to said output means of said first signal rotation means, for separately, positively rotating the signal appearing at said output means of said first signal rotation means by an amount equal to the phase increment between the phase of the data symbol presently being received and the phase of each of the data symbols of interest contributing distortion components to the data symbol indication at said output means of said first signal rotation means; first averaging means, connected to said secoNd signal rotation means, for separately averaging the outputs of said second rotation means for each distortion contributing component of interest to provide a plurality of averaged values; third rotation means, connected to said averaging means, for negatively rotating each of the averaged values received from said averaging means by the angle of said positive respective rotation; first combining means connected to said third and first rotation means for adjusting the data symbol indication received from said first rotation means by a composite value obtained from said third rotation means to obtain an output third signal indicative of the phase increment of the presently received data symbol with respect to the previously received data symbol; and second means connecting said combining means to said control means of said first rotation means for supplying the control signal to control the rotation angle thereof.
 6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 5 wherein said second means comprises an angle accumulator and wherein said apparatus comprises in addition: phase increment storage means connected to said combining means and said second and third rotation means for supplying phase increment information indicative of the rotational angle between the measured and distortion contributing data symbols to said second and third rotational means.
 7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 5 wherein presymbol contribution to the data symbol being measured is minimized in said demodulating means wherein said demodulating means comprises, in combination: delay means for delaying the signal received from said first means by a times equal to one and three data symbols at first and second outputs thereof, respectively; negative fourth signal rotation means connected to said second output of said delay means and said control means of said first rotation means for negatively rotating the data symbol received from said delay means by an amount indicative of the received rotational control signal; second averaging means, connected to said fourth rotation means for averaging the outputs thereof to provide an output indicative of prepulse distortion; positive fifth rotation means for rotating the signal received from said first means by an angle indicative of the output signal from said second averaging means to produce a signal indicative of prepulse distortion; and second combining means for combining said signal received from said first output of said delay means with the signal obtained from said fifth rotation means for minimizing prepulse distortion in said output second signals supplied by said demodulating means.
 8. The method of measuring the distortion in received differentially coherent phase shift keyed data symbols comprising the steps of: transmitting a series of data symbols phase modulated according to the sequence of +45* , - 135* , - 45* , + 135* , -135* + 45* , + 135* and -45* ; receiving and demodulating said modulated data symbols; rotating separately the demodulated presently received data symbols to an angle commensurate with the angle of each of a plurality of neighboring data symbols; and averaging each of the rotated data symbols in sets of specific data symbol rotations over at least one 8-data symbol sequence for measuring the phase distortion components contributed by each of said plurality of neighboring data symbols.
 9. Apparatus for measuring the distortion components of a signal introduced by a transmission facility after modulation of the signal, wherein the signal comprises a series of data symbols of a given length, comprising, in combination: means for modulating a transmitted carrier in a prescribed sequence representing the series of data bits, the sequence having a repetition period, wherein comparison of bit representing symbols of the signal, for each symbol in the repetition period, with each of the other data bit symbols contributIng distortion products of interest, produces an average comparison of zero; means for demodulating the carrier to provide a first signal comprising a main component of a given data bit symbol and further distortion components supplied by other data bit symbols; means for separately adjusting said first signal, in accordance with a characteristic of each of the data bit symbols of interest contributing distortion products, to produce a plurality of second signals; and means for separately averaging each of said plurality of said second signals over said repetition period to obtain a plurality of third signals each indicative of the distortion component contributed by a given data bit symbol to said first signal as a result of a transmission facility.
 10. The apparatus of claim 9 comprising in addition means for removing from said first signal the distortion components as indicated by said third signal to provide an equalized fourth signal.
 11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10 wherein the modulation is phase modulation of the differentially coherent-phase shift keyed type and wherein the adjusted characteristic is phase rotation.
 12. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10 wherein said means for modulation includes means for phase modulation according to the sequence of +45* , - 135* , - 45* , + 135* 135* , +45* , + 135* and -45*; and said means for separately adjusting comprises means for rotating the phase of said first signal to the phase angle of the data bit symbols as originally demodulated by the apparatus.
 13. The method of measuring the phase distortion components of a signal introduced by a transmission facility after modulation of the signal, wherein the signal comprises a series of data symbols, comprising the steps of: phase modulating a carrier over a prescribed period of time for transmission over a facility wherein the modulation represents a series of data symbols; demodulating the carrier to provide a first signal comprising a main component of a given data signal and further distortion components supplied by neighboring data symbols in the series; separately adjusting said first signal in accordance with the phase of each of the data symbols of interest contributing distortion components to produce a plurality of second signals; and separately averaging each of said plurality of second signals over a predetermined time period to obtain a plurality of third signals each indicative of the phase distortion component contributed by a given data symbol to said first signal as a result of the transmission facility.
 14. The method of claim 13 comprising the additional step of removing from said first signal the distortion components as indicated by said third signals to provide an ''''equalized'''' fourth signal. 